The Path A Ninja Walks...

Chapter Nine

~The Black Cat~

A/N: WARNING-The character known as Sage Amesawa uses a lot of profanity and colorful language as part of his "colorful" personality. Be prepared if you are sensitive to that. Please note it is not because I condone such manner of speech, and also the character does not mean to use it as a way to be harmful, it is just his personality.

"It seems our allies in the Sand Village are currently under staffed for ninja at the moment..."

That is most likely because of Gaa-chan...

Saseme thought to herself as the Hokage explained the situation.

"They have been having an abundance of rogues and bandits sneaking in and out of their village as of late..."

Fools...

Saseme thought to herself. Referring to the ones who would dare even try to cause a ruckus in the Hidden Sand.

They may as well be signing their own death warrant...

She shivered as dim lighted flash backs of her once dear friend played in her mind, glaring back death into her eyes.

All it takes is one mishap...

"Saseme, since you are familiar with the terrain and its people, I will be sending your team in this B ranked mission."

"A B Rank!? Nice!" Sage beamed in excitement.

"It's just a bunch of lowly thugs." said Hana,"Why is it a B Rank? Aside from that...why are we going out of our way to help another village anyway?"

"The Sand Village is currently one of our strongest Allies." said Kokoua,"And they just so happen to be short staffed. To keep our unions strong we help out our bretheren of our sister villages in situations such as this."

"Man why you gotta complain anyway!?" Sage huffed,"It's a B ranked mission, our squad is being treated more seriously now!"

"B ranks are normally given to Chunin..." said the Hokage as he blew smoke from his pipe in a slow cloud,"However, considering Saseme's previous history with the village I feel she would be better to send so I will make this exception...besides...it's mainly a B rank simply because it requires you young genin to leave the village to a further land in order to flush out a large growing number of simple enemies." he blinked," A few is not so much a problem but when banded together in large numbers they can be quite troublesome enemies..." he sighed,"The Hidden sand is a 3 day journey in of itself. You will need to supply up. And you wll be working along its own ninja to flush out the growing numbers of rouges. Once you reach the clients, you will be receiving further instruction upon how they want the situation handled within their boarders."

xxxxx

And now...here we are...

Saseme sighed.

"Holy shit a 3 day journey outside of the village to a new village! This is so cool!" Sage seemed to be overly excited.

"Are we there yet!?" Hana huffed.

"You did hear Lord Hokage when he mentioned this was a 3 day journey...didn't you Hana?" Kokoua asked as she munched on a dumpling,"We've only been traveling a day and a half...we should be there by tomorrow."

"Hey, Saseme!" Sage called to her ahead, snapping her out of her memory to acknowledge him,"What can you tell us about the Sand Village!?"

"The Sand Village?"

"Yeah, you like...lived there a while before you returned to Konoha, didn't you?"

"Oh...yes..."

"So...what can you tell us about it!? I'm curious! Is it cool?"

The boy's excited curiosity brought twitches to her. She wasn't sure how best to answer... For her...the Desert was home for a long time...

But how she got there wasn't exactly a pleasant story...

"Ah...I've been..." she blinked,"I've been...living in the Hidden Sand Village...for as long as I can remember..." she said softly,"Eversince I arrived there when I was 8..."

Sage's voice got quiet...his excitement died down as the air around his team mate suddenly became dark...distant...an serious.

"I remember wishing...that I were a better daughter...a better sister...to my brother...I...lost count of how many times I've cried..."

"You...were crying?" he blinked when suddenly Kokoua stopped moving.

"What is it, Sensei!?" asked Hana.

"LOOK OUT!" she called out and suddenly leapt back as a kunai flew through the foliage directly at them. Saseme dipped in, countering the Kunai with her own blade before it got to her team mates and they leapt back as well.

"What was that!?" Hana huffed glaring daggers at the Uchiha,"Who asked you to save me!?"

"That was a poison dipped blade." said Sage as he twirled out his own Kunai and prepared to attack.

"Wait! Stand down!" Saseme huffed.

"Why should we!?" Hana snipped,"We were just attacked! Are you insane!"

"I think it may be an ally." said Saseme.

"How can you say that when we were JUST ATTACKED!?" Hana continued to argue.

"What makes you so sure it could be an ally?" asked Kokoua as she prepared herself for the possibility of an on coming battle.

Saseme's voice went silent for a moment as she annalyzed the blade.

"This was triggered by a trap." she said softly,"I recognize the blade...and this poison coating it."

"Recognize a Kunai? Please..."Hana huffed,"Don't they all look one in the same?"

"She said she recognized the poison too." said Sage.

"As if that makes it different..." Hana mumbled.

"I see...so it wasn't an enemy...it was a trap." said Kokoua,"That means we must be getting close to the Boarder."

"Ooh man..." Sage gulped,"Knowing me...if my dumb ass had rushed in I would have set off... another " he sighed,"Thanks for stopping me, Saseme..."

"We better scout around...make sure we don't set off any more traps." said Kokoua,"These were most likely set by our client...if we set them off their effort would have been wasted and we could risk making the situation worse."

"We may not have to..." said Saseme as she took a defensive stance. Sage twitch catching the same sensation she was.

"Looks like our trap setting friends may not be too far away..." the sensation of motion surrounded them.

"We're surrounded!" said Sage

"It's an ambush!" Called Hana.

Kokoua moved quickly in formation to defend her students from unseen attacks but the intention of attack had suddenly stopped.

"Weeeeeelllllll~ I'll be damned~" the smirky prowel of a black cat figure lurked in shadows of the plant life ahead. A ninja stepped out, dressed in black with a painted face, and a grin of the cheshire cat.

"Saseme..." he smirked,"...Long time no see~"

To be Continued